15 Management Tips for Business Owners in the Philippines

Business owners and employers in the Philippines need to learn how to manage and consistently motivate their employees to ensure that their business will be more productive, profitable, and sustainable. Filipino workers have qualities that are unique from other workers around the world. As a former employee and as a former manager in a certain company here in the Philippines, here are 15 management tips I want to share to Filipino business owners and entrepreneurs who want to make sure that their business will achieve productivity, profitability and stability.

1. Plan your organizational structure. Don’t jump on recruiting people to be part of your team, but design first your organizational structure so that you can fill in the right people that will fit in your company for the long term. Design an organizational structure that is flexible or expandable according to the expected growth of your business.

2. Get trained as a manager. Don’t underestimate the job of a manager – it’s difficult dealing with people. Get yourself trained well to acquire the right managerial skills. You could attend seminars, workshops or post-graduate degrees in management to develop yourself as a manager. You may also read the best books out there that will help you become a more effective manager.

3. Improve your leadership skills. Leadership is the heart of management, and you should possess it to become an effective manager. Hence, discover and enhance your leadership skills to become a champion leader. Don’t forget to also join leadership training and meet other leaders to learn from them.

4. Take your hiring process seriously. Take quality control in your hiring process to ensure that you will select the right people for your business. Don’t hire people just because they demand lower compensation but check out their background and quality of work. Don’t hire people just because they have higher grades during their school days but check out if they have working ethics and values.

5. Compensate them well. In employment, you will usually get what you pay for money. Money is obviously a great motivation for workers to work hard so that they could financially support their family and themselves. If you want to get quality work or output from your employees, give them quality compensation in return.

6. Train your employees regularly. Hiring the best people in your organization is not enough – you have to regularly train them so that they become consistently competent for their respective jobs. You can personally train or coach them closely. You could also send them to third party training providers or sponsor them to attend post-graduate courses. Remember that there are many professionals who do not only work for money but also for knowledge and experience. Hence, aside from money, give them meaningful experience.

7. Empower your workers. Filipinos are known to have pride. That is why they want to have a sense of independence when it comes to work. Trust your employees by not interfering them too much when they do their job. This is the reason why you should give importance to their training so that they could be more competent to do their job with some degree of freedom.

8. Avoid favoritism. Filipino workers are sensitive. Even a slight indication of favoritism inside the workplace can become an issue to them. Thus, always assure to your workers that they are all important to you. Always listen and hear the both sides to avoid making impartial judgments and unfair treatment.

9. Don’t be too bossy, but be diligent. You don’t need to be bossy to be a good boss. A good boss is someone who is humble, diligent, and someone who can make his or her employees happy. Show to your subordinates that you are working hard and you are not just passing all the hard works to your staff.

10. Recognize your employees’ good and bad actions. Recognize and congratulate your employees for their job well done so that they would feel that they are appreciated. Recognize your employees’ mistakes and teach them how to be better so that they would realize that you care about their improvement.

11. Be accountable. As the head of your company or business division, be responsible for the mistakes of your team and not just put the blame on your subordinates. Well, Filipino workers are smart – you cannot fool them. Whether it’s a good thing or bad thing that happens to your company, they can recognize who’s to receive the honor or who’s to blame.

12. Respect your employees’ rights. In the Philippines, there are labor laws that all employers should follow and observe. These laws are aimed to protect their rights and welfare, especially the women. Hence, be updated with these laws and make sure you are not violating them. Also, try to respect your employees’ privacy, especially the things that are beyond your business.

13. Maintain your business integrity. Integrity gives your business security, as well as security for your workers. Filipino employees could be demoralized if they will realize that your business is doing unethical or illegal activities, such as tax evasion, not complying with the government’s regulation, and not providing quality products to customers. Protect your business, yourself and your workers by doing business with integrity. This way, you and your workers could always have a clear conscience and have a good night’s sleep.

14. Make your business profitable. You are managing your business to make it profitable and sustainable. If you fail to make your business profitable, it only means that you also fail to make your team productive, and it’s not a good thing for your workers who are doing everything to give productivity to your business. Therefore, prevent your business from going bankrupt by effectively managing your finance and avoiding unnecessary expenses or investments.

15. Make their family and loved ones happy. Finally, make your employees happy by making their family happy. There are many factors that would encourage your workers to leave your business, and one of them is their family who could advise them to look for another job if they see that your employees (their family members) are receiving low salary, excessive workload, and lacking enough time to spend for their loved ones. Remember that Filipinos are family people. Hence, value your workers’ family relationship.

Human resource management is vital to achieving business success in the Philippines and anywhere in the world. You have to learn how to deal with people, especially with your employees who are responsible for your business productivity. Without productivity, you can hardly achieve profitability, as well as stability in your business. Therefore, be a better manager and a leader by always learning and improving your management and leadership skills.

Victorino Abrugar is a business consultant, blogger, speaker and entrepreneur. He's the founder of Optixor, Inc., a digital marketing company based in the Philippines. Follow him on Twitter at @viclogic.